We like to find threads that connect the 3 films we select every month for our “Best of the Month” designation, and this month, fittingly, it is violence. It’s hard to find 3 more different approaches to the concept though—official state violence against a convicted killer feels more severe than the harm inflicted upon one’s social reputation, or a malevolent puppet’s violence against office-place decorum. There is dark humor of varying intensities running through each, as they all envision ways that life could just be a little bit worse for all of us, and the risk of it being a lot worse. If you’ve succeeded in avoiding dismemberment, public shaming, and/or psychotic co-workers though, you might feel a bit better after watching these shorts as you bless your good fortune.